Day of the Triffids readaptation in development

CB Droege, 2nd March 2012

It’s been over a year since Sam Raimi, the famous creator of the Evil Dead franchise, purchased the film rights to The Day of the Triffids.

The popular 1951 sci-fi thriller novel depicts an attack on Earth which includes gigantic ambulatory plants.

There really hasn't been much news about Triffids since the original news.

However, this week we learned that Ghost House Pictures – which is handling the production for Raimi, hired Neil Cross to pen a screenplay, which will likely be a readaptation of the novel, rather than a remake of any of the films.

Day of the Triffids is one of the most famous sci-fi novels in history, at least by title. Written by prolific post-apocalyptic sci-fi writer John Wyndam, the book has been adapted more than a few times, first as radio plays, then as a film in 1969 - this is the version most people are familiar with. It’s seen more film adaptations since, with the most recent taking place in the UK during 2009.

The story opens with the introduction of the triffids, sentient plant-like creatures of unknown origin, which walk on legs, and spit acid. They are an ironically minor part of the story however, as most of the tale deals with humans fighting one another in an apocalypse spurred by another mysterious weapon: bright meteors in the sky which render nearly everyone in the country blind.

The triffids take advantage of this, and start hunting people down, but the protagonist is one of the remaining sighted people, and has little trouble dealing with the triffids directly. The conflict mostly comes from the majority blind thinking that they have the right to demand assistance from the minority sighted. Of course there are political undertones there, and government assistance and militarism are clear themes of the story.

The famous 1969 film, as is par for Hollywood, is mostly about attacking plant monsters. Hopefully, the new Raimi adaptation reintroduces some of the deeper story.

A director hasn’t been announced for the film, but I would guess that Raimi himself will sit at the helm. The Day of the Triffids is currently in pre-production, and has no announced production or release dates.